Boys and Second Chances
by LadyofAnime
Summary: Previously a one-shot. When you deal with death, it's usually in your nightmares. For Kurama, it was everyday life. He's made mistakes before, but for the first time, life offered him another try.
1. Just A Boy

Just a Boy

By LadyofAnime

A/N: The first chapter is kinda angsty, but the second chapter is happier. Special thanks to the information on Amanuma-kun's first name. (I was so sure I'd never find it...) Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

LadyofAnime now presents...

"Boys and Second Chances"

Dedicated to Tsukihito Amanuma and Shuichi Minamino

It was sunny. A beautiful day; with a slight breeze blowing through the trees and the smell of spring in the air. The flowers were in full bloom and a lovely cherry blossom tree stood over a fresh grave in the corner of a quiet cemetery. A few of the flowers had already fallen, sprinkling themselves across the dark earth. A young man with blood red hair and mysterious green eyes made his way to the grave. In his hand, he held a bouquet of roses, grown especially by him just yesterday. He stopped at the foot of the grave and stood there, silent, thinking, regretting, for a good five minutes. Then he placed the flowers by the tombstone, next to a bunch of lilies. The tombstone read,

'Tsukihito Amanuma

4/23/93 – 5/15/04

You might not know it, but we miss you...'

The boy knelt and said a silent prayer.

"I guess you knew the kid too, huh."

The boy jumped and spun around to face a young girl, perhaps a year or two younger than him, with dark navy blue hair and eyes to match.

"Who are you?" said the boy.

The girl shrugged.

"Just call me Lily."

"I'm Shuichi."

The girl crouched down and stared at the grave for a long time. Her face was unreadable and her eyes seemed slightly...empty.

"He was a kid in my little brother's class," she said finally. "I only met him twice."

She paused and brushed away a few petals that had landed on the gravestone.

"Once, my little brother invited him to his birthday. He seemed like a loner. He didn't really talk with the other kids or play any of the games. He just sat by the table and played on his Gameboy. I asked what he was playing. He said he had just finished beating the game for the 12th time. It was like...he thought he was...superior to the others, even me. I thought he was just a snob. I met him once more in the arcade. He challenged me to a game and beat me in ten minutes. I was kinda pissed, so I yelled at him when he started bragging. At first it looked like he didn't even cared, but I watched him for a while and no one came to play with him, or even come and pick him up. He looked really...really...lonely. I didn't see him after that."

Lily sighed.

"And three months later, I find out that someone found him dead in that cave called Demon's Door. My mom and my little brother went to his funeral, but I didn't want to go. I started feeling guilty. Really guilty. So I picked some flowers out of the garden in my backyard and came here."

She fell silent again.

"How'd you know him?"

Shuichi kept his eyes on the ground as he spoke.

"I played a game with him," he said in a low, quiet voice. "Once. I beat him. Later...I found him...in the cave."

Shuichi's long red hair was draped around his face like a curtain, hiding his emotions from the world. To the world, he was always calm and collected, cool and suave, but no one knew the thoughts that roamed about in his head. No one knew that when he heard the sound of that boy's body slumping to the floor, he wished it was him. He wished that he had died and taken the place of that boy; the poor, misguided boy who had only wanted a little attention. No one ever knew how much he regretted having to kill that boy, or how his death reminded him of so many others he had killed. He still remembered every single person he had ever murdered in his previous life, and he still regretted them all. But no one knew, because he didn't want them to know, because to the world, he was perfect.

"No one knows how he died," Lily said. "The doctors couldn't explain it. It was just like his soul decided to...leave his body." She sniffed. "He was just a boy," she said softly. "He was only ten years old." Her throat felt tight, but she kept talking. "He never even got through elementary school. And now he's gone...he was just a boy...only three years younger than me...and he's dead."

Lily laughed. It was a strange sound, amused, sad, and confused all at once. Shuichi looked down at her. There were tears sparkling in her eyes, but none had fallen.

Didn't anybody realize that Shuichi was just a boy too? In his previous life, he had learned to block out emotions at a very young age and it had carried on into his present life, but deep down, he still had the heart of a boy. He still felt young; too young to be dealing with such heavy decisions. He had made many a choice in his life, and a few of them were the wrong ones or the lesser of two evils. He was only 15 in human years, and even as Youko, he was still young. The toughest decisions were always left to him, because he was the most rational. But just like the rest of the Tantei, just like Amanuma, he was just a boy.

Lily looked up at the boy standing beside her and was shocked at the depth of his eyes. They were so... complex ...so old...and yet so young...and so hurt at the same time...it almost pained her to look at him... She stared intently at him, trying to read his emotion. What she found was an old spirit who had made many mistakes, and had many regrets. Some were small things, pinpricks in his heart; and some were large, like gaping holes dug deep, and hidden well. Staring straight into those unfathomable eyes she said again,

"He was just a boy."

She stood, brushing away tears embarrassedly.

"Just a boy," she repeated.

The pair stood, like fallen angels, over the new grave for a long, long time. It wasn't until the sun was setting and painting ribbons of color across the sky, that Lily put her hand tentatively on Shuichi's shoulder and said,

"It's okay to live with regrets..." she paused, "...because no one is perfect. And you almost never get a second chance."

Lily turned and walked away, down the path, to the cemetery gate. She paused for a moment, looking back at the figure standing in the corner of the graveyard. Brushing more tears from her eyes, she pushed through the gate and headed home.

Shuichi stayed in that spot for a long, long time after that. Night had fallen and the stars were coming out, shining gently down on the earth. He looked up as a lone tear trailed down his cheek and he wiped it away quickly. After a lot of thinking, he had realized something. Lily was right.

He turned and walked away, down the path, to the cemetery gate. He paused for a moment, looking back at the grave of the child he had sentenced to death. But it was only for a moment. Sniffing lightly, he walked away, leaving behind two bouquets of flowers. One of roses and one of lilies.

A/N: So there it is, the first, angsty chapter. I did some work on it and improved it some. I hope you readers like the new version.

Look out for the next chapter!

LadyofAnime


	2. Second Chances

A/N: The previous chapter was formerly a one-shot, but I didn't know that Amanuma-kun gets his life back when I wrote it, so this is my solution. This chapter is happier than the last one. Different parts are in different people's POV, so watch out.

Four words about YYH and Street Fighter: I. Don't. Own. Them. Here we go!

Amanuma's POV

I was sitting in the arcade, playing a new version of Street Fighter, surrounded by admiring kids. They watched in amazement as I beat the game for the 3rd time that day. It was pretty easy. I just did it to watch the different endings you'd get with different people.

"Wow Amanuma-kun," said a boy name Shinta. "You're so good at video games! How'd ya do it?"

I shrugged, basking in my glory.

"It's a natural talent," I said. "But it's kinda boring playing alone. Wanna play with me? I might even teach you some tricks."

"Cool!" he cried, hopping into the seat across from me.

About 10 minutes into the game, I could feel someone else staring at me. I looked around, but there was no one there, besides the other kids and it's wasn't one of them. While I was distracted, Shinta pulled a super-combo move and K.Oed me.

"Hey! I beat you!"

"Sorry," I said. "I got distracted."

Lily's POV

I sat a dark corner of the arcade and watched the young boy playing Street Fighter and surrounded by other kids his age. I vaguely remember meeting him at least one time before, here in this arcade. I remembered that his name was Amanuma Tsukihito and remembering that name, the strangest feeling crept over me. It was weird. I had only met the kid once, maybe twice before, and yet as I watched him grin happily when his opponent pulled off an amazing combo attack, I could feel a sense of ... kinship ..., or something close to it anyway, between him and I. He felt like a little brother to me.

Something else hovered at the edge of my memory. An image of a tombstone under a cherry tree popped into my mind. It was part of something I couldn't quite recapture.

Keeping the fragment of memory at the back of my mind, I got up and walked toward the crowd of little kids, threading through them and sitting at the arcade game next to Amanuma.

"Hey...um, Amanuma, wasn't it?"

He looked up at me and his face brightened.

"I remember you!" he said. "You're Mamoru's older sister!"

I could tell that the kid had changed a lot since I last saw him. He didn't seem to think that he was better than me anymore and he seemed a lot better off too. It looked like he was going to be pretty popular now. My grin grew even more. Looking at the screen of the arcade game, I could see that he was playing against the computer now, since he had just beaten one of the kids. The computer was losing pretty badly.

"Hey, it looks like you need an opponent," I said. "Wanna try me?"

Amanuma nodded.

"Sure," he said. "But don't get mad again if I beat you!"

I laughed and moved to sit opposite him.

"Don't worry, I wont."

Shuichi's POV

I walked slowly down the street towards the game arcade. It's a popular place in town and is usually pretty crowded, but that night, as I entered the shop, it was even more packed then usual. I could see a whole throng of children gathered around a young boy with ginger colored hair. I smiled, relieved. He was there, I knew he would be, but I had wanted to reassure myself. Ever since the Sensui incident, I had become very protective of Amanuma-kun. I felt like I was responsible for him, ever since I...

I walked through the crowd of kids and stood behind him, watching as he challenged another opponent. The character he picked was called Ryu and his opponent was using a blonde girl named Cammi.

"You better watch out," said a voice from the other game terminal. "I'm a master when I play with Cammi."

It was female, and somehow, slightly familiar. I knew I had heard it before, I just couldn't place it with a face or even a name. For some reason, a recollection of a tombstone under a cherry tree filtered into my mind, while some parts of the puzzle remained in the strainer.

The fight began and Amanuma-kun moved in first, aiming for a super combo attack. But his opponent was a decent player, either that, or Amanuma was toying with her. Cammi fliped over Ryu, grabbed him in a headlock and threw him over her shoulder. Ryu recovered quickly and threw a fireball at Cammi, but she blocked it and went for a low kick. Ryu grabbed her leg and threw her. It quickly went down from there. Although Cammi put up a good fight and even managed to pull off a few special moves, Amanuma-kun had total control of the fights.

"HAH!" he cried, jumping out of his seat. "I beat ya again!"

The girl on the opposite terminal sighed in defeat, but she didn't sound defeated.

"I guess I still have to polish up my gaming skills," she said, standing up.

Third Person POV

Lily stood up, smiling wryly.

"Thanks for letting me play Amanuma," she said, stepping out of the way for another challenger.

Her eyes flicked toward the figure standing at the gamerboy's side. Both their eyes locked, as they stared at each other. In some way, they both recognized each other, remembering that fresh grave with a cherry tree standing over it. It was only a vague memory, but by some means they felt like they knew each other already.

Shuichi smiled charmingly.

"Excuse me miss," he said. "Have we met before?"

Lily smiled back, still a bit confused.

"No, not that I remember," she replied. "But now's as good a time as any! I'm Lily."

"My name is Shuichi."

Both of their attention was diverted as another kid was beaten by Amanuma, although Amanuma had taught him a special move.

Shuichi tapped Amanuma's shoulder.

"May I challenge you to a game?" he asked the younger boy.

"Go ahead," he said. "But don't expect me to go easy on you."

Shuichi slid in front of the terminal opposite the boy and picked his character.

"So Shuichi," said the girl, Lily. "You've played Amanuma-kun before?"

Shuichi nodded.

"Only once," he said.

"Well then," said Lily. "Here's your second chance."

A/N: WOOT! I did it! I fixed the fic! (Finally...) This was originally a one-shot, but it kinda sucked and I learned later that Gamerboy (my nickname for Amanuma-kun) gets his life back! So here it is! My solution and my way to make it less angsty. Hope you liked it! Review please!

SEEYA!

LadyofAnime


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